 Have you ever heard a good joke? If you've ever heard someone just right, with the right pacing, then you're already on the way to poetry. It's about using words in very precise ways and using gesture. |
| Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful. |
| I write short stories, and I wrote a play. |
| I see a resurgence of interest in poetry. I am less optimistic about the prospects for the arts when it comes to federal funding. |
| For many years, I thought a poem was a whisper overheard, not an aria heard. |
| Libraries are where it all begins. |
| My favorite poets may not be your bread and butter. I have more favorite poems than favorite poets. |
| The joy of working at something to find out what it means to me is what I grew up with. |
| I was appointed Poet Laureate. It came totally out of the blue because most Poet Laureates had been considerably older than I. It was not something that I even had begun to dream about! |
| I carry a notebook with me everywhere. But that's only the first step. |
| Being Poet Laureate made me realize I was capable of a larger voice. There is a more public utterance I can make as a poet. |
| If they don't read, if they don't love reading; if they don't find themselves compulsively reading, I don't think they're really a writer. |
| It's unfortunate that sometimes in schools, there's this need to have things quantified and graded. |
| In working on a poem, I love to revise. Lots of younger poets don't enjoy this, but in the process of revision I discover things. |
| Going to the library was the one place we got to go without asking for permission. And they let us choose what we wanted to read. It was a feeling of having a book be mine entirely. |
| What writing does is to reveal. |
| If we really want to be full and generous in spirit, we have no choice but to trust at some level. |
| One definition of eternity is that we are not alone on this planet, that there are those who've gone before and those who will come, and that there is a community of spirits. |
| When we are touched by something it's as if we're being brushed by an angel's wings. |
| I think reading Shakespeare's plays when I was young was extremely important. He had the ability to make utter strangers come alive. |
